New Year's Eve

The kid and the boyfriend came over for New Year's Eve and we ordered Chinese from a pretty good place. I had Triple Joy and pork dumplings, which were delicious. Dr. Skull's Kung Pao chicken was too spicy. The boyfriend's beef and broccoli were not as good as the kind he got at the Chinese food place in his hometown, but then, as he says, they never are. 

We ate and lit the candles and talked and wound the whole thing up before six p.m. That's the kind of party animals we are.

Outside, fireworks are starting. Ugh. I'm probably going to spend the evening reading and be in bed before 10:00. All y'all should all have a happy new year!

Farewell to 2024

The last day of 2024 has arrived. It was a mixed year for me. It may be that 2025 will be better for me personally -- I'm living somewhere better, and nearer my kid, and about to retire, and I have enough money -- but for the nation, almost certainly not. Here's hoping that, in the face of bigotry, spite, and hatred, we can be kind to each other, and resist fascism as effectively as possible.

Meanwhile, my top posts from the year:

January:

Snow Day and Agatha Christie

February:

A rant

March:

Death of my father

Also: Comic

April:

I'm in Clarkesworld

My kid is in graduate school

May:

Meditation on Happiness

June:

Visit to New Orleans

July:

Comic

August:

My Kid Does Art

September:

Ruminations on our "Christian" Nation

October:

In case you forgot 

November:

On Trump's (re)Election

December

We buy a house and move into it

Best Books I Read This Year

These are my favorite books which I read this year, regardless of when they were published, in roughly the order in which I read them:

Getting By in Tligolian, by Roppotucha Greenberg -- I reviewed this for Interzone 297. It's a weird, beautiful book, with time-traveling public transit.

Laurie Frankel, Family Family

Jane Gardam, A Long Way from Verona

Natasha Pulley, Mars House

Aubrey Woods, Bang Bang Bodhisattva. Reviewed for Asimov's, it's a near-future novel about the the current generation's response to the collapse of capitalism, among other things.

John Wiswell, Someone You Can Build a Nest in

Sarah Blaffer Hrdy, Father Time -- nonfiction study of how men affect the babies they're around (or not around). The title means time that fathers spent (or don't spend) with babies. Great book.

Richard Powers, Playground

INSOMNIA

So I'm still having that weird insomnia where I fall asleep fairly quickly like at 9:00 or 10:00, but then I wake up three or four hours later and can't get back to sleep.

Last night I went to bed at 10:00 and woke up at 12:30. I lay in bed for two hours, trying to fall back to sleep, and then just went ahead and got up.

This is no way to run a railroad.

 

Cat Pictures

Junti looking out the window of our new house:

Living in Fayetteville

I'm getting acquainted with Fayetteville 2024, which is very different from the Fayetteville 1995 which was when I last lived here. More traffic, and many more houses and restaurants and shops. I am learning all the back ways and secret short cuts to use to get places without going onto College, which is the main road, like Rogers Avenue was the main road in Fort Smith. 

Today I found a vet for Jasper. It's the same vet's office that save my poor little Jake's life when he was mauled by the Labrador retriever, but I'm pretty sure all the vets are different. They did excellent work, though.

I also now have a library card, and a favorite grocery, and am looking about for someone to cut my hair. My hair is in dire need of cutting.

This afternoon I'm going to make bagels. Tomorrow the kid is coming over to cook for us.

Latkes in the Pan

The kids came over and we had a nice first night of Hanukkah. Brisket, latkes, challah, and Matzoh ball soup. I meant to have asparagus, but I forgot about it. 

Latkes in the Pan

The grandkitty came over as well; she was stunned by how much room this house has (it's about 500 square feet bigger than our old house, which makes it three times the size of their apartment). She adjusted swiftly, and was soon bullying our cats into submission. (The grandkitty is massive compared to Jasper and Junti.) I did not get pictures, sadly.

Hippy Happy Holydays

...to all who celebrate. 

We are almost unpacked -- just Dr. Skull's office left and I've made a start on that. This morning I went for a walk to the nearby park, which has a stream, a lake, a dog park, and walking trails. It is less than half a mile from the house. I still want to join a gym, but it's nice that a park is so close.

Later today the kids are coming for the first night of Hannukah, and we're going to have deli and latkes. There are rugelach for dessert, cinnamon and chocolate.

Our almost unpacked house

the park

What I'm Reading Now

Because of extensive unpacking* activity, I've been mostly re-reading Angela Thirkell. She's very comforting, especially the books written in the 1930s and 1940s.

I did make it to the library, where I checked out some novellas by K.J. Parker which I am also reading. The library is so big I couldn't see it all on this first trip. But I'm going again today, so I'll see more of it.

*Everything except Dr. Skull's office is now unpacked.

Packing Update

We are making progress. I'm nearly finished unpacking all the books -- there are four more (giant) boxes -- and then there will only be Dr. Skull's office left to unpack.

Unpacking has been delayed by my extensive social life. Yesterday, for example, my SIL taught me and her DIL how to make baklava using her mother's recipe. (SIL is Greek by heritage.) The day before yesterday SIL and I went to scrounge used furniture stores, looking for more bookcases. Today the kid is coming to cook dinner for us. Day after tomorrow, who knows! 

Wait, that's Hanukkah. So I do know. The kid and the boyfriend are coming over to make latkes and eat brisket.

Living room update:

Happy Dawn

Apparently I get up at five a.m. now.

Let's hope this is a transient phenomenon.

Addendum

So we had a deli night the other night, the day the kid came to help me unpack. We had rye bread, pastrami, corned beef, and half sours, and we had a birthday cake for Dr. Skull and the kid's fiance, since we were moving during their actual birthday. (Dr. Skull and the fiance share a birthday.)

ANYWAY. The kid ate four corned beef sandwiches and was barely restrained from eating a fifth.  The appetite of the young male, y'all.

As for packing: I am making progress. Slow, but steady. We are presently stalled because I have run out of bookcases. (We were forced to leave the cheap ones behind for lack of space on the moving truck. The mover offered to make a second run, but he wanted three thousand dollars to do it and I can buy a lot of bookcases for three thousand dollars.)

Also, did I tell you we brought our old fridge along? Now we're people with two fridges -- one in the kitchen and one in the garage where we keep mostly water and frozen food right now.

Good News!

You will all be relieved to know that I have found my tin snips.

Moving is HARD

I'm so exhausted, plus all my muscles hurt. Moving, even with movers, is hard work, y'all.

We are making progress, though. And the kid came over to help unpack yesterday. Plus the boyfriend put together my lamp, which I'd been putting off putting together for like four months now. It's great to have enough light.

Living Room Right Now

SO MANY BOXES

We've been unpacking for days (okay, three days) and the living room is still full of boxes, as is Dr. Skull's office.

And I still can't find my tin snips, so the laundry is backing up. (I need them to install the dryer vent.)

But both bedrooms and the second bathroom are now unpacked.

Green Land

 My new city is very much greener than my old city. There are recycling stations throughout the city, where you can recycle various sorts of items (cardboard, mixed paper, plastic bottles, glass, even food waste); they charge you more if you want a bigger trashcan; there's curbside recycling; and on the city page for trash collection, there are multiple educational videos about composting, reducing your waste, and recycling.

The city aims to "reach 40% waste diversion" by 2027, by these various methods. This will help reduce the landfill growth, but also reduce greenhouse gasses.

That's what you get when your city is progressive. Unlike Fort Smith, where the city-hired company (privatized, of course) was just dumping the recycling in the landfill with the rest of the trash.

The recycling center I took about fifty cardboard packing boxes to yesterday:

The parking lot was full of people hauling in boxes, paper, glass, and plastic to be recycled, so many people I had a hard time parking. Honestly, a pleasure to see.

Great Rejoicing!

We found the coffee maker.

Now we just have to unpack the 900 boxes of books. Also, I have to put a dryer vent* on the dryer.

Funny story here: I was looking for the dryer vents in Walmart and asked a worker who was about twenty where they were. She didn't know what a dryer vent was. 

Which I guess makes sense. All the apartments around here comes with washer/dryers now**, and maintenance guys to deal with any problems.

There was an older women (about my age, ha) in the hardware department. She knew what they were and pointed me in the right direction. 

*But first I have to find my tin snips.

**I used to have to ride to the laundromat with my duffle filled with dirty laundry balanced on the handlebars of my bike. Uphill. In the snow**

***I never actually went in the snow. 

.

Writing Chair with a View

Even before I unpacked the books, I set up my writing corner. Here's the view from where I sit:

Eventually I hope to screen in that deck, so that the cats will once again have a catio. And in more clement weather (as you can see, it's 62 degrees by my window), I may occasionally write outside.

Here is the view from my chair on starboard side:

We've unpacked the kitchen boxes, and I have found my shoes, but we still have not located the coffee maker. 

We had Chinese take out with the kid and the boyfriend last night. It was mediocre. The kid recommended a different place. "Do they deliver?" I asked.

The kid looked at me pityingly. "Ma. Everyplace in Fayetteville delivers."

We Are Moved In

For certain values of moved in.

Boxes and crates are everywhere, yesterday I could not find the box that held our clothing, the cats are very upset and we still have not found the coffee maker.

But we have the internet again!

What I'm Worrying About Now

I do have a list!

But first here's the kitchen in our new house:

My worries:

What if the movers don't show up?

What if the movers don't get to the new house on time? Where will we sleep?

What if we get to the new house later than the movers and they leave instead of unloading our stuff?

What if I can't get the postal order I need to pay them?

What if I get the postal order and then I LOSE IT?!

What if the power didn't get turned on?

What if the heat didn't get turned on?

What if the water didn't get turned on?

What if something happens to the cats while I'm boarding them?

How am I going to get the fig tree into the Forester?

God, I need some Xanax.

We Now Own a House

Or, you know, 22% of a house.

Talking to the movers today. Like 75% of the things I was anxious about are done!

Things I Am Having Moving Anxiety About

(1) Will the movers actually show up?

(2) What about the cats, will they escape during the move? Will they escape AFTER we move?

(3) Which should I use to pay the down payment, a cashier's check or a wire transfer? 

(4) What if I get a cashier's check and lose it? Or what if I get a wire transfer and I mess up the routing number and I send all my money to a guy in Toronto?

(5) What if I wait too long to get the cashier's check and then they can't get me one in time?

(6) What if the power company doesn't turn on the power?

(7) What if the gas company doesn't turn on the gas? It's going to be 24 degrees the night we move! I mean, that's if the movers show up at all.

(8) What if the movers don't bring our stuff to our new house? We'll lose all our stuff!

(9) What if the movers can't get into our drive to pick up the stuff from the old house? They're doing roadwork on our road, and also our driveway is long and tricky.

(10) What if this is all a big mistake and I shouldn't have bought a house and now I'm TRAPPED

I've decided to board the cats during the move, for what that's worth. 

Weather the day we move

Museums Online (h/t PZ Myers)

Over at Pharyngula, he pointed out that we can view collections at MOMA and at the British Museum, and that many of their images from their collections have been put in the public domain.

Look at this vase. My God. 

Over there, you can see different angles and zoom in. We're living in the future, y'all.

The Met Collection

British Museum

The Death of a CEO

A thread:

Took me a bit but I've found the framing to put into words a way to express to the people fretting about the death of the UHC CEO why we just aren't heeding their admonishment: The social contract stipulates that all life is sacred, and Brian Thompson violated it. But it's more than that.

— Nash (@radiodeadair.com) December 5, 2024 at 6:34 AM

Post-Retirement Anxiety Dreams

As I've told all y'all, after I retire, Dr. Skull and I plan to return to the university. He's going to study music and I'm going to study classics.

Well, last night I had my first anxiety dream about that. I was late to my first Greek class, and I couldn't find the room it was being taught in, and also I couldn't remember the name of the class or who was teaching it. The halls were full of people, all of them getting in my way, and I knew I was going to miss the class. Then when I finally remembered the name of the class, I realized I had signed up for the wrong class -- I wanted first year Greek, and this was a seminar in the philosophy of teaching Greek.

I woke up then, but it was some time before I could make myself believe it was just a dream. Argh!

GOD

 buy a house and moving is stressful. So many things I have to arrange for and have done and the stakes are SO high.

I need Xanax.

In other news, though, we're doing the walk-through on the 9th, the closing on the 10th, and are moving (if the movers actually show up, I am waiting on an email) on the 11th.

Light a candle, cross your fingers, keep me in your thoughts.

BlueSky

John Scalzi posts about his move to BlueSky.

If you're looking for me there, I'm at @delagar.bsky.social

People are leaving Twitter because it’s not fun anymore and no one is obligated to be on a platform they don’t enjoy. It’s not rocket science.

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@aoc.bsky.social) December 1, 2024 at 11:03 PM

For Those Who Have Deliberately Cultivated COVID Ignorance

Which I know is none or few or my readers, but just the same, Kevin Drum brings the facts.

(Yes, I know, COVID deniers could not care less about facts.)

Belated Thanksgiving

We had a late Thanksgiving, since the kid's fiance had to work on actual Thanksgiving. It was a lovely time. The kid and Dr. Skull did most of the cooking, though I did the sweet potato casserole, going very standard this year -- just the sweet potatoes, a little cinnamon and ginger, a tiny bit of brown sugar and the juice from half an orange. Topped with non-corn syrup marshmallows. They were perfect.

Dr. Skull and the kid did the turkey; the kid did the mashed potatoes and the gravy, as well as the rolls.

Dr. Skull did the green bean casserole, a new dish this year, and the pumpkin pie. There was also stuffing.

Uncle Charger brought the wine.

We had a fine time, though I forgot to take photos.

ETA: The kid reminds me that he also made a fine mac and cheese, with five sorts of cheese and a Panko topping. It was indeed delicious!

Next holiday we will me in the new house, less that two miles from where the kid and his boyfriend live. He can come over and cook everything.